Police chiefs from around the state met for an annual Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police conference July 17-19 in Shreveport.

Barry Bonner, Sterlington chief of police, said the annual meeting is both necessary and informative.

“It is part of a continuing education to keep our state supplement coming,” he said. “During the conference they discuss policy procedures, maintaing control of traffic citations, evidence room procedures and ethics. As a chief, we are held responsible for things like that, so we have to make sure we manage everything properly.”

The LACP represents over 300 police chiefs and top command officers from municipalities, universities and colleges, medical campuses and other agencies; they are involved in all aspects of law enforcement including professionalism, legislation and training.

Bonner said that ethics is a large part of Louisiana government that Gov. Bobby Jindal takes very seriously, especially when it comes to accepting gifts.

“They teach that if it is worth something then you cannot accept it,” he said. “If it is worth nothing then you can have it. For example, if you wanted to give me a pie, I could not take it, unless I ate it in front of you.

"If you wanted to give me a plaque with a pie engraved on it, then I could definitely not accept it, because that is a valuable item.”